CVE-2020-36476
There is missing zeroization of plaintext buffers in mbedtls_ssl_read to erase unused application data from memory.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (1.57%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
An issue was discovered in Mbed TLS before 2.24.0 (and before 2.16.8 LTS and before 2.7.17 LTS). There is missing zeroization of plaintext buffers in mbedtls_ssl_read to erase unused application data from memory.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
- EPSS
- 1.57% probability · 75th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-212
- Affected
- arm/mbed tls · debian/debian linux
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 1.6% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls/releases/tag/v2.16.8Release Notes, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls/releases/tag/v2.24.0Release Notes, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls/releases/tag/v2.7.17Release Notes, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/11/msg00021.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/12/msg00036.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls/releases/tag/v2.16.8Release Notes, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls/releases/tag/v2.24.0Release Notes, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls/releases/tag/v2.7.17Release Notes, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/11/msg00021.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/12/msg00036.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.